Punctuality and Old Times
by White as Sin
Summary: Tsukino supposed at this point, she was supposed to be crying. Ten years hadn’t changed him at all to Kuroyanagi’s fury and everyone else’s exasperation. AzumaTsukino


**Title**: Punctuality and Old Times

**Rating**: PG

**Warnings/Spoilers**: Some of the Monaco Cup

**Pairings**: Tsukino/Azuma, a little teeny bit of Monica/Suwabara

**Summary**: Tsukino supposed at this point, she was supposed to be crying. Ten years hadn't changed him at all (to Kuroyanagi's fury and everyone else's exasperation).

**Author's Note**: Just a bit of cuteness I figured out after watching one too many episodes of Yakitate!Japan! late at night. More notes after.

* * *

Tsukino supposed that at this point, she was supposed to be crying. She almost wanted to, as an all too familiar tightness filled her chest, and she clutched at the flowers she held close in her arms.

_Oh Mother in Heaven,_ she thought.

Matsushiro-tenchou looked bored as he brought his newspaper up to his covered eyes, checking the odds of the upcoming races and murmuring bets aloud. Kuroyanagi-san looked furious enough to have an apoplexy right there, though he stayed where he was and didn't say a single word. Kanmuri-kun looked awkward but amused as usual, his typical bland, bright smile on his face, though Tsukino could see his eyes were clenched a little more than usual and there was a small accumulation of sweat on his lilac hair. Suwabara was being teased by Monica, who was chewing her usual mouthful of gum, only this particular bubble was colored white, instead of pink, with Shachihoko in the background having a furious argument with Azuma-kun's rather buxom elder sister Inaho about the merits of baseball vs. track and motorcycle racing. Meister Kirisaki and his aviary were quietly settled in the back, as he conversed quietly but fondly with his sister, the peacock Coo putting his head on the younger Kirisaki's lap to be petted.

But as Tsukino surveyed the chaos safely from the front of the hall, she supposed that she should be used to it. Kawachi was glancing at her in worry from time to time (and not glancing at her chest, which happened be nicely on display in the particular dress she wore). Ten years had passed and it seemed just like yesterday when she saw _him_ flailing into the Pantasia main branch store under Kuroyanagi-san's venomous glare, and only continued to flail in at the last minute ever since.

The judge who was presiding was shifting from foot to foot, looking very, very awkward. He reached up to his collar and pulled it from his substantial neck, glancing around at the rather motley gathering of people, from an afro topped giant irreverently putting his feet up on the nearest flat surface while checking on race stats to the equally irreverent ginger haired girl in a rather skimpy green silk dress sitting next to a ferociously scowling young man in kimono and hakama toting a fearsome looking katana to the equally buxom black haired woman in the back and the American with a Kansai accent, both with voices growing at an exponential rate.

"Maybe we should- postpone this," he suggested, nervously, mopping sweat from his receding hairline.

"Are you crazy? Do you know how long Tsukino has been waiting for this?" Kawachi-kun snarled at the man, sending the judge cowering and crying for his mother.

"It's all right, Kawachi-kun," Tsukino said with a smile as bright (and as patented) as Kanmuri Shigeru's. "We can wait a little longer for Azuma-kun."

She pondered over that for a minute, over the scent of the lilies she held in her hands. Ten years, and she still called him that, though he had long asked her to call him Kazuma (just Kazuma, no –san or –kun anywhere to be seen). He hadn't changed very much. He still borrowed money from her whenever he dragged her on last minute shopping trips before exhibitions and competitions. He still made her hold his things (the petalite board was hardly the last) and of course… he was always late.

Then, like in all the movies, there was a resounding boom of opening doors that made everyone jump. Coo shrieked in indignation, feathers bristling. Kazuma was standing in the doorway, panting, his clothing disheveled. He had long since gotten a haircut, enough to ensure that he would never need Tsukino's cheap pink hairband again, yet his distinctive "antennae" waved in the wind, bobbing mischievously over his still cherubic face. He was taller (of course) though he would never match Matsushiro-tenchou or even Kuroyanagi-san, but more than tall enough to tower over Tsukino herself. His chocolate brown eyes looked wildly around before resting on Tsukino and lighting up, as warm as the sun, warmer than his famed hands. An enormous grin split his face and he waved at her, laughing.

Kawachi groaned, smacking his forehead. "Ne, Azuma, can't you even be on time for your own wedding?"

Tsukino only smiled and stifled a giggle into her enormous bouquet of cream roses and lilies as Azuma made his excuses in a steady babbling stream of words as Kawachi descended to smack his best friend and attempt to straighten out the expensive tuxedo. It wasn't the time. It was enough that Azuma had come. Like he always did.

* * *

**Final Word**: I find Yakitate such an adorable series. It's astonishingly informative and deep, as well as funny in a variety of different ways. I have never seen another series that manages to balance between melodrama and slapstick comedy as well as maintain a cast of likeable (or at least humorous) characters. Azuma and Tsukino make such an adorable couple, though they can be seen as being merely very good friends as well. This story came as a result of seeing Azuma come in late… again. I thought that knowing Azuma, he would be late even to his own wedding. Ah well, some habits die hard.

But he's so cute.


End file.
